Overzealous Officers causes Friction

The death of police officers is always a crime, no matter what the killers reasoning and no matter the situation.

Peace officers take their career as seriously as any other person, most times...more. They put themselves in harm’s way, as these three beautiful souls did in Moncton, to protect those that cannot protect themselves.

The problem sometimes is they cannot protect us from their overzealous co-workers.

The issue that many people have is not that they disrespect authority or disrespect the police. Social media brings many bad apples to the forefront, including police officers. It started with Rodney King.

W-5 did a report on a case in British Columbia where a Canadian Veteran who served in Bosnia as a Peace Keeper and suffered from PTSD was shot and killed at home by a cop for assaulting his brother in September of 2012.

The man was shot and killed by an officer who had other options. Mr. Matters apparently was carrying a hatchet threateningly, but instead of sending his police dog, which is trained to handle this type of case, the officer shot a mentally ill Vet in the back. The officer with bean bag rifle had no idea how to use the weapon and they say the taser was not working properly. I give this link, but it does not give the same information as the W-5 story I watched.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/jury-makes-9-recommendations-after-inquest-into-rcmp-shooting-of-ex-soldier-1.1664018

The handling of this case was so bungled that even a peon like me could see it; a Veteran who suffers from Post-traumatic stress disorder has a helicopter flying around his home, cops dressed in camo and no one would allow the family friend to bring Mr. Matters to the police station like originally planned, and which he had agreed to, they had him scared and wouldn't you be under the circumstances?

My questions would be why are you taking equipment into a situation that you have no clue how to use, does not work properly or you refuse to utilize?

Here a man, Mr. Matters, who served his country, a man with a mother, a man with PTSD, but a man who had assaulted his brother which brought the police to him, died that day because a policeman was determined to do things his way, instead of the right way. The police officer has been cleared of any wrong doing.

The case in which a bus full of people that was being held hostage, the passengers were cleared off the bus safely, but the assailant was shot anyways, how many times? I believe it was 9. The gentleman, Robert Dziekanski, in Vancouver airport being tasered, someone lost their son that day as well. There are numerous cases where police officers have “jumped” their own guns. 

Many believe that these are the officers taking the law into their own hands instead of using other resources to prevent the deaths of citizens and their fellow officers. They are the cause of friction between the public and the police.

I completely agree police have a most difficult job to do. Many times having to make decisions in a split second, but there are some decisions that are made too quickly by some police, sometimes they have the time to make the right decisions, but they choose to do things their own way. 

Those decisions are the ones that make law enforcement look bad. The best thing that Law Enforcement can do for itself is “weed out” its superiority people.

Two Codiac RCMP officers were cleared of any wrong doing in the death of a man named Danny Levesque. According to the police reports the man died because of a stab wound that was inflicted before the police shot him 4 times.

 http://globalnews.ca/news/1349567/codiac-rcmp-not-responsible-for-death-of-moncton-man-fredericton-police/

My only question then would be, if the man was dying already, why was he used for target practice?

If the police, with all the resources that are available to them, could not restrain a dying man (who according to their own reports was drunk and on drugs) then what do we the taxpayers need to provide them with so that they do not have to put themselves into this type of predicament where they have to shoot someone who is dying from a stab wound?

Canada is not a police state; we are allowed to question the decisions that are made by the police. I was not there when Mr. Levesque was shot; I was not there when he was stabbed. I do not know any of the victims, Mr. Levesque or the RCMP officers. What I do know, it is not my place to judge on appearance alone. I only ask questions and a question that keeps coming to mind is why?

Why was Mr. Danny Levesque shot at all if he was already dying from a stab wound? Why was he not restrained and taken to hospital?

According to the internet, Justin Bourques parents tried to get him help, they tried talking to the police…the police told them there was nothing they could do.

I have an issue with that, being Bi-Polar I have been told by doctors and by councilors that if they feel I am going to harm myself or someone else they have to report it to the police...so is it only from a medical professional that the police will take a threat seriously? Family and friends do not know a person well enough to know they will do something to harm someone or themselves?

It is time law enforcement start taking family seriously when they call to say my son/daughter/family member may hurt someone or themselves…is that not also part of an officers job, to take those calls seriously?

We have all heard of at least one case where a family member has said, “I tried to warn them, I tried to tell them, but no one would listen”. 

Would it have helped to have a couple of RCMP officers or a councilor sent to talk to Mr. Bourque after his parents contacted the police? We will never know.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/08/justin-bourques-parents-sought-help-for-troubled-son-but-police-couldnt-do-anything/

But...

Will law enforcement listen now? Because this is not the first time a tragedy like this has happened or does this have to keep happening?

Will the next small town be shocked by a gun toting “madman” because the police/RCMP would not take a family member seriously or because there is “nothing they could do”?

There is something that can be done, consideration. No matter who the victim of a crime is...whether they are wealthy, poor, a white collar criminal or a drug dealer...they have a family and they have friends who care about them. 

It is up to the police department to help those left behind to understand the reason for the death, not hide it, not give excuses, but to explain. What reasoning was there behind a "clean shoot" when the victim was dying from a stab wound.

I have a girlfriend whose child is having issues at his school; he is autistic and does not do well in the classroom setting. His fellow classmates feel they have the right to “nag” and pick on him about doing his school work in class. This young man is 14 now and the children are really starting to get on his nerves, I worry that one day he will throw a punch and someone will go home with a black eye. He is the one who could be charged. 

His teachers and the principal tell my friend that her son only needs to “do the work” and the other kids will stop.

My issue here is twofold, one being that the teachers and the principal should be telling the other students to mind their own p’s and q’s and two, my advice to my friend would have no meaning by the sounds of it. 

I suggested she take a proactive step and speak to the RCMP, because as far as I am concerned this young man is being bullied…not just by his peers, but by his teachers and his principal who are taking the stance that he is not being picked on by the other children, but that the other children are only trying to "help" him. 

This is a perfect setting of a child SNAPPING...and who will be to blame, not the teachers...they never saw it coming. Not the children, they were always so friendly to the disabled boy. It will be the parents fault. Right? 

My girlfriend has been an amazing mom to her autistic son, her only fault lies in not having the energy to home school or the money to hire a full time tutor to get her son away from the bullies at his abusive school, teachers, students and principal.

Would the RCMP take a proactive stance in this case? Probably not by the sounds of it, not until my friends child hurts someone, and that is the deplorable part.

Another issue just came up, a young lady I know had an accident at school, she should have been taken to a doctor because it was a hairline fracture but her father, who she was with at the time and is known to the police to be abusive, did not believe her…instead he twisted her arm behind her back until it actually broke. The mother reported it to the police, but it doesn't look like it will go anywhere. 

This in a city where a dog locked in a car gets more attention (three cop cars) from the police than child abuse does, that is unacceptable.

This is why police authority is questioned.

The general public would not get so frustrated if we saw some type of authority stand up and punish officers that let the power go to their head. 

The public wants safety, but we also want to be safe from the police who are only on the job for the supremacy.

When we see and hear of police brutality, we do not think all cops are like that. Not all police officers let their positions go to their heads. We know better, but we do think, “Is the cop behind me like that?” 

I do not condone the deaths of the three officers or the wounding of the two in Moncton, New Brunswick. I think it is unjustifiable.  

I do not condone the shooting of Mr. Levesque, he was already dying and needed the RCMP's help, not 4 bullets. I do not condone the fatal shooting of Mr. Matters in British Columbia. I do not condone any death that is done under retaliation or under the guise of authority.

Reprimanding and punishing officers that go past the limits of their job description would make the public feel safe from the cop driving behind them.

Officers’ being held accountable for their mistakes is not what undermines police officers and the jobs they do, hiding behind their badges after making a mistake is what undermines them in the public's eye. 

Police officers are human, they make mistakes like everyone. They do NOT deserve to be MURDERED for mistakes they or other police officers make. That is something that is reprehensible.

However with all this said, while those few bad apples do leave an ugly taste don't let them sour you to the good men and women who CHOSE to protect us day and night from the really bad people. 

People who choose to believe all police officers are like the few I have described, don't cast stones unless you have nothing to hide, there have only been a few saints on this Earth and I don't think you are one of them. 

I adore each and every officer I have had dealings with in the past. Mostly because they were all amazing people but a part of that being from my showing them the respect they completely deserve.

To all the amazing Officers past and present that I have had the privilege to meet and be helped by... 

It takes a certain type of person to do what you do...a courageous and selfless person...I thank you for doing it every day, please stay safe.